This evening I am at home in bed with a temperature that came out of nowhere and feeling a little sorry for myself. I'm not ill enough to just fall asleep, but can't focus enough to read my book - the rather brilliant "London: City of Disappearances" edited by the always brilliant Iain Sinclair.
I love books about the history of this city. It reminds me that my city is also the city of millions of people who have gone before, who are living here now and who will live here in the future. And that each of those people will have a completely different experience. Obvious really, but somehow it's easy to forget when you're in your own routine, battling through crowds on the tube and looking down your nose at new arrivals who think east London is the best thing since sliced bread and the only place to be. London, this huge sprawling place that appears to always be on the verge of something, with its hidden stories of lives lived and lost, battles fought and finished and love affairs of every kind imaginable, is endlessly fascinating and Sinclair is one of its great chroniclers in my humble opinion.
Anyway, instead of reading that I am trawling Youtube looking at short clips and nosying about the blogosphere hunting for new things to read. My current favourites are the always soothing Dreamcats (possibly not soothing for anyone who isn't into cats though) and the hilarious Hyperbole and a Half.
I also love this video of Karl, apparently shot by a Chanel staffer after his superb couture show earlier this month. Although the collection was a triumph, introducing a new pared back and refreshing silhouette which Karl calls the new flapper and which must have taken a huge amount of energy, thought and time to produce on everyone's part, the designer was not about to rest on his laurels.
Karl: Fashion is about going ahead, not about memory.
Interviewer: And no credit on the past. Never?
Karl: This credit card does not work. When people want to be liked for what they did, they should stop.
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